[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 12]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 16741]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



          THE HISTORY MUSEUM OF SPRINGFIELD AND GREENE COUNTY

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. ROY BLUNT

                              of missouri

                    in the house of representatives

                       Monday, September 10, 2001

  Mr. BLUNT. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor an institution which 
for a quarter of a century has served an invaluable role in preserving 
and remembering our Southwest Missouri history and heritage.
  Twenty-five years ago The History Museum of Springfield and Greene 
County was created in honor of the Bicentennial of our great nation. 
The citizens of Springfield and Greene County established the museum to 
educate others about the area's culture and open a new window on the 
history of day-to-day life in the region. A key local education 
resource was born.
  Teachers and other educators in Southwest Missouri have been blessed 
to have such a historical museum readily available. Over the years it 
has become a favorite field trip destination, permitting thousands of 
young minds to experience some of the culture that nurtured their 
parents and grandparents as well as other generations before them. Many 
educational trips have been hosted by The History Museum for 
Springfield and Greene County. The Museum, founded and guided in its 
early years by Springfieldian Kitty Lipscomb, is also a place of 
remembering and learning for adults too.
  The museum is a storehouse of knowledge about past experiences which 
helped shape our families, neighborhoods and communities and are still 
molding us as a society today. It reveals the common threads that bound 
neighborhoods and communities together in past generations. Capitalism, 
Democracy, Liberty and Faith were the core values that stirred our 
imagination and gave birth to America's work ethic, innovation, and 
self betterment through a commitment to education, and personal 
independence. Each of these qualities is on display at the History 
Museum for Springfield and Greene County in vintage photographs, 
clothing displays, maps and documents depicting how our communities 
grew and developed. With its home on the top floor of the Springfield 
City Hall, the Museum has dedicated itself to the reflection of our 
past with an eye toward our future.
  This superb facility gives us the opportunity to memorialize our own 
stories of accomplishment, development and expansion as well as 
documenting how we overcame challenges and disagreements. Individuals, 
neighborhoods, community leaders and institutions joined together to 
forge a strong, diverse economy and society in the Ozarks.
  I'm confident that my Colleagues join with me in expressing our 
thanks to the vision and foresight of community leaders a quarter 
century ago. Because of their dedicated work, the residents of 
Southwest Missouri have had a place where they can go to rediscover the 
roots of our past and benefit from lessons for the future.

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